Hyderabad: The Committee on Distribution Channels, constituted by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda), has come out with a recommendation that banks should not have referral arrangements with more than one life insurer and a non-life insurer. And also, the panel recommended a radical reduction in the capital required for a corporate agent from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 1 lakh. In its 60-page report, the 10-member committee constituted under the chairmanship of NM Govardhan, former chairman of LIC, stated that urban cooperative banks, regional rural banks, microfinance institutions registered with the RBI and non-government organisations registered as trusts should be permitted to distribute micro insurance policies.
The report also stated that a customer who buys through the telecalling mode should be provided a printed copy of the caller's questions and the resultant responses. In case of e-mail interactions, encryption should be used to protect the target person's privacy.The committee has made over two dozen recommendations on retail products with the intention of increasing the penetration of general insurance in the country. Another member, chief executive officer of IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company Limited, S Narayanan, also submitted a dissenting note.
